This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-335421, filed Oct. 31, 2001, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless communication device and an information-processing apparatus that can hold the device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, wireless communication devices have come to be mounted in mobile information-processing apparatuses such as notebook-type personal computer and PDAs. To mount a wireless communication device in an information-processing apparatus, two methods may be used. A first method is to incorporate the wireless communication device into the housing of the information-processing apparatus. The second method is to insert the device in the form of a PC card into a PC card slot provided in the housing of the information-processing apparatus. The second method is preferable in view of the manufacturing cost of the mobile information-processing apparatus. This is because the PC card (i.e., wireless communication device) is an optional unit, which the user buys and inserts into the PC card slot after he or she has bought the mobile information-processing apparatus.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 10-283449 discloses a wireless communication card shaped like a PC card. The wireless communication card is an extended-type PC card. While inserted in the PC card slot of a mobile information-processing apparatus, the card has its extended part protruding from the housing of the apparatus. The antenna of the wireless communication card is incorporated in the extended part in order to enhance the wireless communication efficiency.
Another wireless communication card is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,131. An antenna is mounted on a dielectric card. The antenna card may be hingeable or slideably mounted to a mobile computer. The antenna card is storable in a recess in the display portion of the mobile computer when not in use. When in use, the antenna card is either rotatably or slideably extended to a deployed position away from the display portion of the mobile computer.
In all of the wireless communication cards discussed above, the extended part, which protrudes from the housing of the apparatus, is not resistant to mechanical impacts. The extended section may be greatly damaged by an impact, depending on the direction of the impact. It may be broken if the user accidentally drops it onto the floor or hits it against anything hard. If this should happen, not only the housing of the extended part, but also the antenna and electronic components that are provided in this part may be broken.
Embodiments of the present invention provide a wireless communication device that can reliably perform its function while held in a host apparatus, without having its antenna protruding from the housing of the apparatus.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a planar antenna to be removably held in a surface of a host apparatus having a wireless communication function. The planar antenna comprises an electromagnetic radiation surface that is substantially flush with a surface of the host apparatus during wireless communication.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a wireless communication device removably held in a host apparatus. The wireless communication device comprises a planar antenna module having an electromagnetic radiation surface substantially flush with a surface of the host apparatus during operation of the wireless communication device. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the surface of the host apparatus is an outer surface such that the electromagnetic radiation surface is substantially flush with the outer surface during operation of the wireless communication device.
According to other embodiments of the present invention, the wireless communication device comprises a printed circuit board including electronic components configured to perform wireless communication. In one embodiment, a cover is provided for covering the printed circuit board and the electronic components. The planar antenna module may be provided in an upper surface of the cover such that when the wireless communication device is held in the host apparatus the upper surface of the cover and the electromagnetic radiation surface are substantially flush with the surface of the host apparatus. In one embodiment, the upper surface of the cover has a recess, and the planar antenna module is embedded in the recess and the cover has an inner surface covered with a metal layer.
In further embodiments of the present invention, a connector is provided on a lower surface of the printed circuit board and is configured to connect the printed circuit board to the host apparatus.
In still further embodiments of the present invention, a power source is removably mounted on a lower surface of the printed circuit board for supplying electric power to the electronic components. In one embodiment, the power source is a battery. In another embodiment, the power source is one or more solar cells. In further embodiments, the power source may be a combination of at least one battery and one or more solar cells.
According to one embodiment, the host apparatus is an information-processing apparatus for performing wireless communication. The information-processing apparatus comprises a housing, a display unit rotatable, with respect to the housing, between an opened position and a closed position, and having a front surface and a back surface, the back surface having a recess therein. The wireless communication device is removably provided in the recess and includes a planar antenna module having an electromagnetic radiation surface substantially flush with the back surface of the information-processing apparatus during operation of the wireless communication device.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.